The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1887-07-16

u
bor. draw comparison with our coun-
ty of La sale, because II occupies the proud
position Of being the highest wage paying
locality. In the glass industry, Of any spot
upon the nhabi,able globe and It's labor Is
therefore above and superior to the con-
petition of non.productive, profitless, pau
pes labor, either foreign or domestic.
Mr., Trimble truly says, that the cost of
the raw material of glass Is about the same
in Europe as in Ame s-,he difference
is but from one to two Ger cent, varying
with the different localities ana sometimes
favoring the one, and then the other; and
he assumes therefore that the difference In
cost between European and American glass
is "the difference In the scale OF European
and American wages" But this Is evident
ly erroneous, as we have seen; neither is
the difference In cost, the difference In la
Dor cost, but simply OF tariff cost.
There was manufactured In the United
States s. ,047,3 1913 worth of window glass In
1880, for which there was paid 10 labor g.
l39, 53G making the average American la.
Dor cost of window glass 424 per cent of
Its product, of which Illinois produced
S3i3, 343 worth, at labor cost OF 30 per
cent Laborers In window glass making
are almost exclusively men, and wages ran.
ged all the way from S4ll per annum 10
New Jersey to 5000 per annum in Illinois !;
and here, again, the law that the higher
wage is the cheaper labor, holds good in
the window glass, as in the other indus
tries.
Now, keeping In mind the wages paid In
window glass manufacturing, and also the
amount manufactured In 1880, 1t will throw
flood OF light upon the subject to know
that in 1880 we imported 27,92,,4l4 lbs. of
window glass and in 1856 we imported 81.
5102j5 lbs, paying duty of S1,l74,3il,
which duty ranged from 81 93 per cent to
100 S3 per cent according to sizes, and av-
eraging over So per cent. The duty paid
on window q. last year. evidently, was
more than half the entire amount paid in
wages to all our laborers in the window glass
industry, as it is much more than the half
paid them in 1880, when we imported less,
and therefore probably made more than in
1886 In 1880 the imported window glass
paid duty of 6G per cent. In 1886 there
was twice as much imported paying du-
ty OF SO per cent. If a tariff prevents in.
vasion of our market, why does increasing
the duty double the importation? Reduc-
ing the duty would as certainly reduce i'm.
portation and before it was entirely wiped
out we should be exporting instead of i'm.
porting glass.
Mr. Trimble says the present tariff Is
the result of the ripe experience and meas.
urless wisdom of the tariff commission of
1882. He describes the fountains upon
which it drew Tor inspiration to guide judg.
ments already matured in statemanship,
and declares, in substance, that to touch
the perfected product of that unseltish in
vestigation for many years would be moth
ing short of sacrilege. Pollocks Apotheo-
sis of tire power and genius OF Byron
standing upon the Alps and the Appenin-
es, pales before Mr.. Trimble's description
of the wisdom, the learning, the justice of
that commission, and the tariff of 1888,
the work of its hands. But Pollock says,
after all Byron went to H-sheol, and
say likewise, the tariff of 1883 should go
to keep him company, That commission
In its report declared that excessive du-
ties are positively injurious to the indus
tries they are supposed to FOSTER recon-
mended general reduction of from 20 TO
- per cent, and formulated tariff bill to
secure that result. Now If they were hon,
est, what must be said of their wisdom
and If wise, what must be said of their
integrity, in view of the mess they made
of it!
They advised large reduction of the
tariff This satisfied the discOnted tariff re-
formers. They engineered bill through
Congress, that the initiated well under
stood would in its practical operation,
result in still more intense protection:
like the man in the boat who looks In
one direction while rowing in the other
The committee filled full to the brim the
purpose Of its projectors; 1t satisfied the
disconnected elements and consolidated the
party for the campaign of 1884 Upon its
face, the bill reduced the tariff from 1874
per cent to 40.S7 or by nearly two per cent,
instead of from 20 to 90 as recommended by
the committee, and this reduction was in
tended to be apparent merely, not real.
Upon those things that we're not and could
not be imported, the law made large paper
reductions. Upon those that could be, and
were imported, the act generally increas-
ed the duty. Like all protective tariffs, 1t
was mere make-pretense, juggle, and
deception. Thus the first six months of It's
operation in 1888, increased the duty over
the corresponding period of 1882, as shown
by the report of the ways and means COM
mittee upOn manufacturers of wool PIC